Textured lacrosse ball

ABSTRACT

A lacrosse ball, wherein the lacrosse ball has a textured surface. The surface may have a depth ranging from 0.1 millimeters to 0.5 millimeters, which may vary on an individual lacrosse ball wherein the depth ranges from between 0.1 millimeters to 0.15 millimeters or from 0.30 millimeters to 0.5 millimeters.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. Design patent application Serial No. 29/664,999 filed Sep. 28, 2018, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in its entirety herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure is directed to a new and novel lacrosse ball, and more specifically, to a textured lacrosse ball having defined depths in the textured surface.

BACKGROUND

Lacrosse is a sport that has been around for centuries which likely originated in Native American cultures. Today, lacrosse is played at the youth, high school, collegiate and professional level with sophisticated state of the art equipment. Lacrosse balls have been traditionally smooth surfaced, rounded balls made out of rubber. The strings and depth of the head of lacrosse stick and techniques developed for cradling the lacrosse ball in the head of the lacrosse stick enable players to keep the ball under control. However, there is only a limited amount of friction between the surface of the ball and the strings of lacrosse stick to prevent the lacrosse ball from sliding out of the head. Additionally, there is nothing inherent in the lacrosse ball to improve its launch. Finally, smooth rubber balls are also susceptible to becoming greasy and therefore shorten the usable life of the lacrosse ball.

Not all balls are smooth. Golf balls, for example, may have between 300 and 500 dimples on the surface. The shape and depth of the dimples may affect the spin rate, trajectory and velocity of the golf ball in flight, so the results are purely aerodynamic. However, the actual length of impact of a golf club on a golf ball is instantaneous and short-lived. Thus, dimples on the golf ball have no effect on friction between the club and the ball when they are in contact with each other.

Baseballs have stitches on them. The stiches are raised off of the surface of the ball and provide the ability for the pitcher to grip the ball and apply spin to make the ball move during flight.

Basketballs may have a textured surface to improve the grip while dribbling and shooting.

In each case, the non-smooth surface of the subject balls have been part of the sport for many decades. No such advancements have been made in the lacrosse ball for what may the oldest of these sports. There is nothing in the prior art that would teach or suggest adding a textured surface to a lacrosse ball. Accordingly, there is a long felt and unsatisfied need in the industry.

SUMMARY

The disclosure is directed to a lacrosse ball, wherein the lacrosse ball has a textured surface. The surface may have a depth ranging from 0.1 millimeters to 0.5 millimeters, which may vary on an individual lacrosse ball. On an individual lacrosse ball, the depth may range from between 0.1 millimeters to 0.15 millimeters or from 0.30 millimeters to 0.5 millimeters.

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to limitations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 shows a textured lacrosse ball.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged area of the lacrosse ball of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows another example of a textured lacrosse ball.

FIG. 4 shows an enlarged portion of the lacrosse ball in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic representation of a textured lacrosse ball.

FIG. 6 shows an enlarged area of the schematic representation of the textured lacrosse ball of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 shows another example of a textured lacrosse ball having a 0.10 to 0.15 mm deep texture.

FIG. 7a shows an enlarged area of the textured lacrosse ball of FIG. 7.

FIG. 8 shows another example of a textured lacrosse ball having a 0.30 to 0.50 mm deep texture.

FIG. 8A shows an enlarged area of the textured lacrosse ball of FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

This disclosure is directed to a lacrosse ball having a textured surface of a defined depth. As such, the disclosure advances the state of the art in lacrosse ball technology.

Traditional lacrosse balls are generally known in the art. They may be made out of various materials, including, for example, rubber. More advanced lacrosse balls may be made out of a special elastomer that reduces the likelihood that the lacrosse ball will harden or become greasy. An example of this is the Pearl® family of lacrosse balls made by the assignee of the present application, Guardian Innovations. An exemplary material for a lacrosse ball is a polyurethane/urea elastomer material which is the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 9,862,795 to Hanson, Jr. et al.

A further advancement in lacrosse ball design is set forth in this disclosure. Here, the surface of a lacrosse ball is textured. The textured ball enables a player to prolong the increase the friction of the lacrosse ball in the player's lacrosse stick and to improve the accuracy of the launch of the lacrosse ball for passing or shooting. The textured lacrosse ball also has the added effect of delaying the effect of greasing of the balls.

As seen in the accompanying figures, the textured lacrosse ball may have have a geometric or random pattern on its surface. FIG. 1 shows an exemplary surface pattern, which surface pattern is enlarged in FIG. 2. Likewise, FIGS. 3 and 4 show an exemplary surface pattern and enlarged area, respectively.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a textured surface lacrosse ball pattern with an enlarged section shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 7 is a view of a lacrosse ball with a 0.10-0.15 mm deep texture and FIG. 7A is an enlarged view of the lacrosse ball in FIG. 7.

FIG. 8 is a view of a lacrosse ball with a 0.30-0.50 mm deep texture and FIG. 8A is an enlarged view of the lacrosse ball in FIG. 8.

While the attached textured lacrosse balls show a surface pattern that appears random, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the surface pattern can be any type of surface pattern to achieve the same effects and benefits.

In describing preferred methods, systems, or apparatuses of the subject matter of the present disclosure as illustrated in the Figures, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. The claimed subject matter, however, is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose, including the textured surface pattern on the lacrosse ball. In addition, the use of the word “or” is generally used inclusively unless otherwise provided herein.

This written description uses examples to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the claimed subject matter, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the disclosed subject matter is defined by the claims and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art (e.g., skipping steps, combining steps, or adding steps between exemplary methods disclosed herein). Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims. 

What is claimed:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a lacrosse ball, wherein the lacrosse ball has a textured surface.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the textured surface has a depth ranging from 0.1 millimeters to 0.5 millimeters.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the textured surface has a depth ranging from between 0.1 millimeters to 0.15 millimeters.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the textured surface has a depth ranging from 0.30 millimeters to 0.5 millimeters.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the textured surface includes a pattern and the depth of the textured surface ranges from 0.1 millimeters to 0.15 millimeters.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the textured surface includes a random pattern.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the textured surface includes a pattern and the depth of the textured surface ranges from 0.30 millimeters to 0.5 millimeters.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the textured surface includes a random pattern 